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Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Bloom Where You Are Planted

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief for Southern Writers Magazine

We’ve all heard that expression. It seems
like now is a good time to bring it up.

Recently I heard authors comparing
themselves to other authors and it struck me funny. Why? Because what they were
saying I heard in Junior High School. You know the girls who were comparing
their looks to other girls in school. You remember those girls, right? They
were big on the comparing angles. I guess they needed that to feel good about
themselves.

You would here one say, “I don’t know why
she got that award, I am much prettier or I’m much smarter.” Or maybe you
heard, “Well if her daddy wasn’t on the school board she wouldn’t be the
teacher’s pet.”

Jealousy and envy are a terrible shade of
green and a total waste of time.

As authors though, I don’t understand why
one author who writes romantic fiction would compare their writing to someone
who writes thrillers. Or why would you compare your writing, when you have only
started writing to someone who has been writing for several years and is a
successful published author. Those aren’t exactly in the same ball park.

Our family instilled in us to be the best
we could be whatever we were doing. Whether it was helping at home, studies or
playing the piano or just helping a neighbor. “Whatever you do, give it your
best.”

Competition is good. It helps us strive to
do our best. We need competition. But comparing ourselves to others, is not
constructive, as a matter of fact, it can be destructive.

Growing up my family gave me piano lessons.
I loved music, we were a musical family. My grandmother and mother could play
by ear. I took lessons for many years. Every day, I was told to practice. As a
young girl my practice period was a minimum of thirty minutes per day, unless I
had a recital coming up, then I would have to practice longer. I don’t ever
remember complaining about time spent practicing. Maybe it was because I love
music. Without the practice I would not have been any good. I certainly would
not have been able to play classical music, or play at the church for

services
until they found someone to hire, or just play for my own enjoyment or my
families.

Writing is no different. The ability to
write is a wonderful gift and it should be used. To be good, at anything, you
have to practice. The more you write, the better you become. There are books on
every subject pertaining to writing. There are courses on different aspects of
writing. All of these are wonderful tools. But, if you don’t practice writing
every day, even if it’s a few hundred words, you may not get any better.

Talk to successful authors––you will find
they write, most of them, every day, and more than a few hundred words!

We would all like to get awards. Until you
do, work at being the best writer you can be. IF you do, you will see your
efforts blooming.

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